Food & Drink

I left the dairy and continued heading toward the coast. While this technically ended my Upcountry tour, Maui's North Shore has its fair share of local flavor, albeit of the surfing variety. As you might expect from those who live wave to wave, the North Shore's main town, Paia, is geared toward those on a budget-well, as budget as Maui gets. Its few blocks of storefronts are full of bikini boutiques, crowded indie cafes and more than one head shop. To be honest, it seemed a little grungy to me, particularly when compared with the upscale galleries and shops in Makawao.

From here Route 37 continues south before turning east into the Piilani Highway, an alternate route to Hana that skirts Haleakala National Park. It's a two-hour drive along rugged and rocky roads along the ocean that can be a little rough -- not all rental car companies allow you to bring your car there. Instead, I turned around and backtracked north on 37. Here, it's easy to suss out Upcountry's priorities: Every other business along Route 37 seemed to be a homeopathic shop and/or massage studio.

The road out of Makawao passes through sugar cane fields, where you can glimpse the ocean through the waving grasses. I turned my car onto state Route 37 and headed toward Kula, home of the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm.

Leaving Lumeria, I pulled my rental car out onto Baldwin Avenue, the two-lane road that runs from Maui's beach-oriented North Shore to the more agricultural island interior. The journey passes sugar cane fields of waving grass, with sloping hillsides up to Haleakala on one side and sweeping vistas down to the Pacific on the other. My next stop: Makawao and the T. Komoda Store & Bakery, the Upcountry place to come for malasadas, a Portuguese dessert made of fried dough.

I'm not what you'd call a yoga person. Contorting my body into odd poses, often at ungodly hours? So not my thing.